Scissor Sisters man pens musical

Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears has penned a musical adaptation of Armistead Maupin’s Tales Of The City novels.

The musical Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City will begin its run at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco on May 18.

Speaking to Rolling StoneShears said: “I got an email from (librettist Jeff Whitty) wondering if I’d be interested in a musical that took place in the Seventies and had kinda fun themes that involved gays, copious drug use and trannies. I said: ‘Of course- what is it?'”

The singer, who was fan of the books (calling them “a rite of passage”) immediately agreed.

Of the show, the singer said: “It’s..really ambitious. There are 50 characters and 60 themes; it’s a massive undertaking. The show is just like the books- there are very short scene that go really fast. It’s a very different kind of musical.”

He added that the songs in the show are timeless. “I didn’t want to do a Seventies pastiche,” he said “and I didn’t want it to resemble, even with the original songs, a jukebox musical.”